Thumping Our Way Through Disneyland. The Dream Begins.
 

Planning 2 Disney Vacations-Part 1. (Pre-Trip Report)

My first trip report and I already don’t know where to start. I guess I can start by saying thanks to a certain TR writer (I won't mention Nebo's name quite yet *coughs*)and all his sidekicks for pushing me into writing this TR. I just hope I can write this TR as could as he can, and hold everyone’s attention. Of course I will have lots of help from DW. She's the true writer between the 2 of us. I'm just going to pretend that I know what I'm doing.:rolleyes1 I don’t want this to turn into a cookiep-cutter TR. If any of you followed Pkondz’s Hawaiian TR, then you know it’s filled with many cookie recipes.

Patience Nebo, patience. I'll give you credit at the end of this TR. If it makes it that far. I’m not as good at this as you are. As many trips as you take to WDW, you would think you would’ve taken one to Disneyland by now. Send the rookies out to DL and wait to hear back from them. Decide if it’s worth going or not. We do feel honored though that you consider us WDW veterans, although we’ve only been to WDW twice.

So who are the rookies you ask? Well I guess that would be me (Mike), T-Man as I’m known by Nebo and all his sidekicks. Although I’ve also been called thumpy, thumper dude and wascally wabbit.

Can you guess which one is me? I’m the cute cuddly one.
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5062/5...a49d030d4e.jpg

Then there’s DW, the love of my life and the lady with many nicknames. Most know her as Lady H (H standing for her real name Heather). She’s also been called Mrs. T, Smiley Queen (http://www.santafemods.com/images/Smileys/queen2.gif), TMW (short for Thumper_Man’s Wife, her disboard name) and what ever other names people have come up with for her. For this TR, I will refer to her as Lady H. This seems to be the nickname that has really stuck with her.

Meet Lady H. She is also the cute cuddly one. (She wanted me to post a warning so you don't get scared to death. So I guess WARNING: Cute lady in picture.)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7119/7...8936dec8cb.jpg

No these pictures weren't taken on our DL trip. We haven't gone, yet. "Hey Ponzi, quit pushing us out the door. Not time for us to go yet." These were taken on our last trip to WDW in October of 2010. We almost gave up hope taking a picture with Miss Bunny. Finally got a picture with her on our last day there. Literally within our last hour, but that would’ve been another TR we never got a chance to write about.

And here’s the 2 of us together.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8024/7...ea34ace8e7.jpg


So now you met the rookies.

Why am I calling us rookies? This will be our first trip to DL together.

Lady H and I have each gone to DL, but never together. It’s been years since either one of us has been to DL. That last time I’ve been to DL was about 19 years ago. Disney California Adventure wasn’t even built yet. Heck, I don’t even know if what was even a thought back then.

All I remember was I was young, dumb and full of................................................ .................................RUM of course. What were you thinking I was full of? I had just turned 21 that year. I was legal now. And I went with family, so I had to be some what good.

As for Lady H, it’s been 14 years since she’s last been there. Probably just started building DCA the last time she was there.

How we could we be rookies since we’ve each been there in the past? :confused3 Well so much has been added and changed since we’ve last been there. The only parts of Disney that existed back then was DL and the Disneyland Hotel. Since then, DCA been added; as well as 2 more hotels and Downtown Disney. Now that there is more to do and see, and it's taken us FOREVER to go back, we feel like this will be our very first time going to DL.

Which brings me to why I called this chapter, Planning 2 Disney Vacations.
I (yes, yours truly) am in the process of planning 2 Disney vacations for us. Lady H just comes along for the ride. She leaves me to do all the planning. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? I know all the women here like to take control and plan their Disney vacations. Or at least most do. Anyways, I just have to tell her when and where we’re going, and how much dinero, moo la moo, yens, pounds, loonies I need.

Our first Disney vacation will be to DLR. Which is why most of you are probably here. Our second Disney vacation will be back to WDW in December. This will be our 3rd trip to WDW (first close to the winter holidays). You probably want to know how DLR will compare to WDW. If this is your true objective, then I will disappoint you right now; we will not compare DLR to WDW. Or at least we will try not to. If we do, it may be inadvertently.

Our objective is to tell you about all the wonderful things we did, and about all the things we wish we had done. And the occasional, we'll never do that again and this is why. We’re going with an open mind and really don’t want to spend all our time on vacation comparing DLR to WDW. I’ve read TOO many heated threads about how DLR is better than WDW, and vice-versa. I believe everyone who goes to each place should enjoy each place for what they have to offer. This is our intention and exactly what we plan to do.

I hope Lady H and I can take you on a magical journey. So grab your glass of wine (you know who you are), beer, fuzzy cup or whatever it is you like to drink; sit back relax and have a good time with us. Hope to have Part 2 up by tonight.

Chapter Links & Other Fun Stuff
 

Reserved in case this turns into another cookie recipe TR and I need a place to post the links to the recipes. :rotfl:

Chapter Links
Planning 2 Disney Vacations - Part 2. (Post #17)
Time For Us To Fly (Post #124)
We're Going to Disneyland! (Post #193)
The Adventures of Larry, Curly & Moe. (Post #237)
Dining With Walt @ Steakhouse 55 (Post #255)
A Mile to the Turnstile (Post #284)
Taking Advantage of EMH
Disneyland In Half A Day
No Stamp! No Entry!
FANTASMIC Ending to a Fantastic Day
Hollywood or Bust!
Cars, Dinos and Apes Oh My!
Tram-Tastic!
The Curse Of The Mummy
The Curse Of The Mummy Continues
Escaping The Curse...NOT!
Roasting in Radiator Springs
Trying to Escape the Heat. Still cursed.
Escaping The Heat, In The HOT Tub. (Post #636)
It's a World of Color (Post #686)
Goodnight Carsland (Post #717)
T-Man and Lady H Try To Take Over The World.......Sea World (Post #739)
The Curse Continues...at SW? (Post #797)
Pieces of the Puzzle Missing... (Post #820)
Be Gone Satan...Hello Shamu! (Post #832)
On The 6th Day, They Rested! (Post #880)
The Beginning of the End (Posts #910 & 911)
The Dream Begins (Post #924)

Looks like this is going to turn into more of pie/cake TR.

Pie Links
Queenbetsey: Low Fat Oreo Cream Pie
mmeb144: 7 Layer Cookies
cjlvsccm: Peanut Butter Cream Pie w/Pretzel Crust



Cake Links

Photo Links
Resort Photos
Universal Studios Hollywood
World Of Color
Sea World

Nah...we have plenty of cookie recipes over on Ponzi's RR, what we need now is CAKE!!! Or Pie!

Yes! First one here! It's late, so I'll read the first post tomorrow...

Cake or pie, hunh? Hmmm.....

Well technically I was the first one here. I guess since I'm the one writing the TR, that would only be obvious. I'll give it a little time to see if others realize I started a TR before I send out a pm. Like you, I hope I don't disappoint and lose the audience.

Lady H is the baker of the family. So sounds like this might turn into a cake or pie recipe thread.

I'm number two! I'm number two! I'm number.... ewwww!!

Oh, phew!!

I'm number three! I'm number th... oh! Nevermind...

Don't matter what number you are. Just glad to have you aboard. :goodvibes

I'm number 3 on the all new Thumps and Lady H report. My seat belt is fastened and I'm ready to be off.

Hey, Millard, at least I'm not number twwooo!

Posting from my phone can get tricky when a typo is waaaayy up there by the send button. Then I have to edit.

Welcome Sandy. We're ready to take off to, but we still have 2 weeks before we go. Until then, we'll try to keep you all entertained. TRY being the key word.

Joining in! I've never been to DLR, can't wait to hear all about it!

Hey, T-man, I don't mind if you want to compare WDW to DLR. Sometimes it's not about one being better than the other, but more a question of how they differ. Differences can be fun!

Rock on! :rockband:

I've been to DLR once, almost 40 years ago and had a great time. It was just one park, then.

Whoo Hoo! We have readers!!!! This is exciting! http://yoursmiles.org/msmile/pozitive/m1211.gif


I'm a recipe fanatic, so I'll take whatever you got!


Your HERE! That's what matters most!


Hopefully the ride won't be too bumpy! We're new, so we are not quite sure how to drive this thing yet. :drive:

We can't wait to tell you all about it! We just have to get there first!

I'm sure there will be some comparisons, it will probably be impossible not to compare, however, I hope that our comparisons will be regarding the differences and the new experiences we will hopefully have.

As TM said, this will be the first time in years that either of us have gone, and the first time we will do it together. Thinking about it, we have been to WDW 3 times now, and there are so many things we haven't had a chance to do there...it gives us a great advantage to see this park with newbies eyes, and since we haven't had the pleasure of doing everything at the World, we can't compare and contrast to the Land too much. I think this will be a great way to share our experiences and our adventures into new territory with all our Disboard friends and anyone else who wants to join the fun! :goodvibes

Hi Shan.

And we can't wait to tell you about it. I've recently learned from reading Laura's report; make sure to take plenty of pictures. :rotfl:

Hi Marie.

As Lady H said, I'm sure there will be some comparisons; hopefully not in the fashion like the food is so much better at DL than at WDW. The CM's are so much nicer at WDW than at DL. These are the type of comparisons I was referring to when I said I wouldn't make comparisons.

We will try to stick to comparing Splash Mountain to Splash Mountain. What we liked on each. What is the same or different as far as theming. And who knows, I may let it slip if I like one more than the other. :rolleyes1 Though I'm going to try hard not to.

As I mentioned in my opening chapter, it was only one park then to. It will be exciting to see how much it has expanded. Especially excited to see the new Carsland. :yay:

I'm in...I'll post a cake recipe this weekend.

Jill in CO